Eremophila caperata is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a broom-like shrub with flat, narrow, wrinkled leaves and white or light pink to lilac-coloured flowers.
Eremophila caperata is a shrub usually growing to a height of 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 with many erect branches. The branches are rough and often lumpy, shiny and sticky. The leaves are linear in shape, tapering towards both ends and are mostly NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The leaves have a wrinkled surface and there is a slight hook on the end.[1] [2]
The flowers are borne in groups of 3 or 4 in leaf axils on a stalk NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. There are 5 egg-shaped, cream-coloured to purple, sticky sepals which are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The petals are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and joined at their lower end to form a tube. The petal tube is white, light pink to lilac-coloured, spotted brown inside the tube. The inside and outside surfaces are hairy and there are 4 stamens enclosed within the petal tube. Flowering occurs between August and November and is followed by fruit which are oval-shaped, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, with a thin, brittle and hairy covering.
Eremophila caperata was first formally described by Robert Chinnock in 2007 and the description was published in Eremophila and Allied Genera: A Monograph of the Plant Family Myoporaceae.[3] The type specimen was collected by Chinnock about 5sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 north of the rabbit-proof fence near Kalannie. The specific epithet (caperata) is a Latin word meaning "wrinkled".[4]
This eremophila occurs over a wide area between Wubin, Hyden and the Plumridge Lakes area where it grows in sand, clay or loam on dunes and depressions, often in saline soils and in Eucalyptus woodland.[5] [6]
The delicate leaves of E. caperata, its compact shape and masses of showy flowers in spring make this a suitable screening or understorey shrub. It can be propagated from cuttings or by grafting onto Myoporum. It grows in a wide range of soils, in full sun or partial shade and is both frost and drought tolerant.[7]
Eremophila caperata is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.